The Intercultural Institute of Comparative Music Studies is holding its traditional course of diphonic singing for beginners and advanced-level students. Diphonic singing is a vocal technique with shamanic origins, widespread in Mongolia, Siberia and South Africa. In the practice of diphonic or overtone singing, the same person sings with
two voices by emitting a low laryngeal sound overlaid by high sounds with a melodic function, produced by harmonics obtained on the walls of the oropharyngeal cavity.

The course will be taught by Tran Quang Hai, considered the leading world specialist on diphonic singing. A refined performer of the musical traditions of the Far East, he has taught artists like Demetrio Stratos, David Hykes, Meredith Monk and Roberto Laneri. Tran Quang Hai comes from a family of five generations of musicians; his father Tran Van Khe is a leading expert on Vietnamese music. Born in South Vietnam, Tran Quang Hai studied at the Saigon Music School and then at the Centre d’Etudes de Musique Orientale, Paris; since 1968 he has been a member of the CNRS research group, and the Department of Musicology at the Musée de l’Homme, Paris. He plays over fifteen instruments from Vietnam, China, India, Iran, Indonesia and Europe. A composer, writer and editor of numerous publications (essays, documentaries and records), he has received numerous international awards for his studies on music. He has given highly successful performances in various productions and events: Les Tambours 89 by Yves Herwan-Chotard (marking the bicentennial of the French Revolution), La Composition Française di Nicolas Frize (1991), the Festival of Saint Denis and the International Festival of Chant de Gorge Khoomei at Kyzyl and Tuva in 1995. Also worthy of note is the ethnomusicological documentary Le Chant des Harmoniques (1989), made by Tran Quang Hai with Hugo Zemp, which won prizes in four international events. Tran Quang Hai has performed in over 2,500 concerts in 45 countries, making a key contribution to the use of diphonic techniques in contemporary music.

Course of diphonic singing by Tran Quang Hai

Venice, Island of San Giorgio Maggiore
3 – 5 October 2008

Istituto Interculturale di Studi Musicali Comparati
tel. +39 042 5230555 +39 041 2710357
e-mail: musica.comparata@cini.it